How All the Game of Thrones Cast Members Spent Their Summer Vacations

The air is getting crisper, the leaves are changing color, and dozens of gruff, bearded men are descending on the film sets of Croatia, Northern Ireland, and Spain — yes, that's right, production on the fifth season of Game of Thrones is in full swing. The show's been shooting intermittently since late July, and this week, the cast and crew returned to Dubrovnik to film King's Landing exteriors. To mark the occasion, let's see what each member of the show's sprawling cast has been up to since we saw them last. Who got a new look? Who made some new friends? Who did the Ice Bucket Challenge? (Everyone did the Ice Bucket Challenge.)

(We restricted this list only to actors who appeared in season four, because Jesus, there are a lot of actors on Game of Thrones.)

Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) Clarke spent the summer playing Sarah Connor in Terminator: Genisys, a role she inherited from Thrones castmate Lena Headey. Her Ice Bucket Challenge video ended with a very posh "Mother of crap!," which is just delightful.

Kit Harington (Jon Snow)After Pompeii, Harington tried his hand at another action film, staying closer to home with Spooks: The Greater Good. (It's a feature-length sequel to a long-running spy show, sort of the British equivalent of that 24 movie they were always talking about doing.) He also sullied his beautiful mane with a very special version of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which he recorded alongside co-stars Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister)Besides doing the Ice Bucket Challenge, she also dressed up for this wonderful picture, the backstory of which remains unknown.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) He traveled to the Toronto Film Festival to support the Danish drama A Second Chance, and played the part of Horus, the falcon-headed sky god, in the upcoming Gods of Egypt. No images have appeared of him in costume yet, but if someone wants to Photoshop a bird's head on Jaime Lannister, that would make our day.

Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) As long as he keeps working, Charles Dance's services as a villain will be in high demand. He spent the summer shooting the drama The Woman in Gold before making the promotional rounds for Dracula Untold, in which he plays the Roman emperor Caligula. (In this telling, Caligula is a vampire.)

Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) Hollywood came calling for Christie this summer. She replaced American Horror Story's Lily Rabe in the final Hunger Games movie and took a role in an upcoming J.J. Abrams film.

Rory McCann (Sandor "The Hound" Clegane)As this Rory McCann fan's Twitter account states, Rory McCann spends most of his time in the remote Scottish Highlands, so that's probably what he did this summer, too.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane) The Icelandic strongman had his strong-ness officially verified when he won the title of Europe's Strongest Man. After his victory, Björnsson ripped off his shirt and bellowed, "I am the future of strength! I am the king of the stones!" either of which would make a fine House motto.

Jerome Flynn (Bronn)Ripper Street was saved from cancellation thanks to a deal with Amazon, which meant Flynn spent his summer shooting the show's third season. Will this be the one where they finally catch Jack the Ripper?

Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) Who knew Jorah the Andal was a cricketer? Glen took part in this year's Words and Wickets festival, in which actors and authors face off on the cricket field. His team lost, but his daughter got some cute face paint, so it likely all evened out.

Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy) McElhinney is directing the touring performance of the Tony-nominated play Stones in His Pockets, which was written by his wife, Marie Jones. This news failed to kick off a nepotism scandal in the U.K. theater scene.

Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) Playing a warrior eunuch on Game of Thrones is just Anderson's side gig. He's also an up-and-coming R&B singer under the name Raleigh Ritchie. This knowledge finally gives us the formula for finding our British R&B star name: It's your favorite college town, plus your favorite British director. (Ours is Athens Hitchcock.)

Rose Leslie (Ygritte) For some reason, the actors who play Wildlings on Game of Thrones all had very busy summers. (A sign they won't have much screentime next year?) Leslie wasn't going to be coming back anyway, and she's been all over the place, shooting The Last Witch Hunter (with a very bearded Vin Diesel) and Sticky Notes, and promoting the indie horror Honeymoon. On top of all that, she supported the winning "No" campaign in Scotland's independence referendum. Everything's coming up Leslie!

Ciaran Hinds (Mance Raydar) Hinds has entered the stage of a character actor's career where it seems like he's always bubbling up somewhere or another. This summer alone he's earned good reviews for his role in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, acted in the Olyphant-less Hitman sequel, and signed on to play Miles Teller's father in the boxing movie Bleed for This.

Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed) Outside of a few Comic-Con appearances, we've found nothing about how Ellie Kendrick spent her off-season. She's the kid in your class who, when you ask her how her summer went, mumbles "Fine" and then shuffles away.

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